Habits
(coming soon) Articles https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wd7d3m/compulsive-skin-picking-bfrb-823 "Evelyn, a 24-year-old student I spoke to, told me she compulsively picks at blemishes, tiny scabs, and open wounds on her head and face. These sores often hurt and bleed, yet the small scars dotted around her face illustrate the fact she's repeated this process thousands of times regardless, because the picking is something she can't control. The medical term for this behavior is excoriation disorder, more colloquially referred to as compulsive skin picking (CSP). The disorder is part of a family of self-grooming behaviors that fall under the umbrella term Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs). Other forms of BFRBs are compulsive hair pulling (trichotillomania), compulsive nail biting (onychophagia), and compulsive biting of the inside of the cheeks." "BFRBs are often mistakenly associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder , but it's common for people to experience their compulsion without obsessive thoughts. Jennifer Raikes from TLC told me that "depression and anxiety can coexist with these disorders." Indeed, a lot of the time, BFRBs can be linked with stress and can be part of a bigger problem like body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)." "At a recent BFRB conference at King's College, London, Dr. Mouton-Odum asked the audience how many of those suffering from BFRBs would want to get rid of them if they could. Many hands shot up into the air. She then asked that if they could engage with picking or pulling without any hair loss, skin damage, etc, would they still want to stop? Only two hands remained up in the air. A significant element to BFRBs is that they actually help people in some way, whether it's that they soothe the nervous system or that they provide relief from discomfort. So if BFRBs have positive affects, why is it important for people to stop engaging with these behaviors?" (see also Stimming) "Shame is what sends people into the shadows. Mr. Darnley says the lack of awareness of BFRBs is due to "shame and embarrassment as people partly believe their BFRBs are their own fault." People need reassurance that their habits are not their fault, and that they should feel confident to address them and talk about them." "Taking a hard-line approach with someone and telling him or her to stop something they can't control only perpetuates the shame they feel and subjugates them into more silence. It's like ordering someone with a broken leg to stop limping. There's a reason for the limping, and that's a broken leg. There's also a reason for the existence of BFRBs. They are incredibly complex behaviors, but they sometimes seem trivial when spoken of. They come with the confusing baggage of mixed feelings and paradoxical emotions, and recovery cannot be attained without correct therapeutic intervention and time." Trichotillomania https://mosaicscience.com/story/compulsive-hair-pulling-skin-picking-trichotillomania-bfrbs-ocd/ :"One night in bed she had what she calls a peak experience, or spiritual vision. Pearson decided to walk away from her business and devote her life to improving public awareness of trichotillomania. “I was scared shitless. Me: I’m a drug addict, I’m a small-business person, I’m in sobriety, I have an eighth grade education, and I’m going to get out there and change the world and some weird pathological disorder?” says Pearson. “I just was terrified.”" :"Step into any classroom or coffee shop and, the odds are, at least one person in the room has a body-focused repetitive behaviour (BFRB), such as trichotillomania or skin picking disorder. :People with BFRBs perform repetitive self-grooming activities such as picking, pulling or biting. These can cause emotional distress and damage to the body, but the people performing the behaviours can’t stop. At their most extreme, these conditions are life-threatening." :"A significant minority of people with trichotillomania (commonly called ‘trich’) ingest their pulled hairs. Over time, the hair can block the intestine and require surgical removal." Category:Psychology Category:Habits